Backup & Restore

Contents

MusicBee's Backup Library function (found in the File Menu), behaves exactly like Syncing, except that it will include your settings files. It automatically backs up your AppData folder ("MusicBee Settings Files"), which includes most of the customizations you may have made, and offers you up to three other folders for backup. The target folders MUST be on a different drive than the source folders (though you can fake it with a virtual drive if you need to). We suggest including your Library Folder (as configured in Library Preferences) and your MusicBee installation folder, in addition to the directory where your audio files are stored. See below for what each location contains.

For a standard installation, the AppData folder will be in your local equivalent of C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\MusicBee. (AppData is sometimes a hidden folder in Windows Explorer.) For a portable installation, there should be a folder called AppData within the MusicBee installation directory.[1] Files and folders may include:

Filters: Contains the settings for any library filters you've created.

This covers a full restoration, such as you might want to do if transferring your library to a new computer. If you're only interested in some settings or files, you can scale these instructions down accordingly.

Install MusicBee, but don't import any files. Make sure it is closed while you do the next steps.

Copy the files from the old AppData folder (what the Backup dialog calls the MusicBee Settings Folder) to the new AppData folder

Copy any special files from the old installation folder to the new installation folder.

It's best not to copy any actual program files, to ensure that all program files are from the same version, but you may also want to install the Latest Update.

Copy your Library files wherever you want them to be.

You can overwrite any library files MB created during installation.

If you don't want to use the same location that MB selected, just delete the new library files that MB created. You will be prompted for library selection the next time you start MB.

If at all possible, copy your audio files to the exact location they were in before (you can always move them later, from within MB).

If this location is unavailable for some reason, you may need to use the Remap Music Folders command to help MusicBee find them again.

Run MusicBee. If everything is where it belongs, it should look and behave just as before. If anything is wrong, see if you can identify which files or folders above might be the source of the problem.

↑You can also put the AppData folder in the installation directory for a regular installation, and MB will find it. There may be problems with file access permissions in the Program Files directory, though.